Nothing, it seems, has announced Laura Robson’s rise to prominence more
emphatically than being mentioned on Twitter by a boy-band star.

The British No 1 dissolved in high-pitched giggles as she described how contact this week from Harry Styles, the One Direction singer, had suddenly gained her an extra 20,000 followers on the social networking site.

“I got an email saying: ‘He has followed you and sent you a message’,” she said. “I looked at my replies and there were thousands of people asking ‘Who is she?’ It was so funny.”

Quite apart from Robson’s tennis, and the kudos of advancing to the third round of Wimbledon, it is the attention of the cherubic Styles that appears to have sent thousands of teenage girls into apoplexy.

Styles, like Robson also 19 and with 13.8 million Twitter followers, told her on Thursday ahead of a tour date in Boston: “Good luck for today, mate.” She responded: “Hi to the One Direction fans,” not realising that she was about to stoke up an online frenzy.

“I like a bit of cheesy music,” she said, still laughing. “So I tweeted and they quickly corrected me, ‘We’re not fans, we’re ‘Directioners’. It’s like a whole other world.”

It was a strange but charming performance by Robson, rapidly acquiring an array of new admirers for her combination of teenage ditziness and lashings of street-smart humour.

One television reporter asked her, with unfortunate language, how she would regard a touted ‘battle of the sexes’ match between Andy Murray and Serena Williams. “Are you interested in seeing how that one might go if they get it on in Las Vegas?”

While she can come across as a soft touch by her preoccupations with baking and puppies, Robson is building a cult following for her more mischievous streak – which has included making a ’Gangnam Style’ video with Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, her closest friend on the circuit.

As at the Olympic Games last summer, her infectious enthusiasm is endearing her instantly to the Wimbledon fan base. Asked if she felt any extra pressure as Centre Court’s star attention – joint billing to Murray, naturally – she replied: “I think I’m handling it pretty well. I’ve had a fair few matches on big stadiums now and have handled the crowd support perfectly fine.

"I love it when people get involved. Sometimes they let in a massive groan when I hit a double-fault, but then I do as well. We are just living it together.”

Robson could not be embraced more as an all-British heroine if she tried, and yet her antipodean connection endures. A search on Google for Robson, who was born in Melbourne, still shows her results next to the flag to Australia. “I don’t know why that is,” she admitted, downplaying the question of any alternative allegiance.

“My relatives still live in Australia, but that’s about it. The only time I go there is for the Australian Open. My grandparents live in a very unpopulated part of Western Australia and I haven’t seen them in two years – which is quite sad, really.”